In his September address to the Union of B.C. Municipalities, the Premier announced that the Western Climate Initiative is working collaboratively to develop a cap and trade system by next August. British Columbia will also require hard caps on GHG emissions from all heavy emitters in B.C. All ministries and Crown agencies will be legally required to be carbon neutral by 2010 – “no ifs, ands or buts” ...
Prior to 1987, natural gas was supplied to end use customers in British Columbia by monopoly service providers only on a bundled basis. In 1987, Inland Natural Gas Ltd., a predecessor company to Terasen Gas Inc. (“TGI”), pioneered open access in this province by applying to establish transportation service rates for its industrial and large commercial customers. Open access was made available to those customers commencing in 1987 ...
On certified questions from the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Supreme Court has decided that New Hampshire will allocate liability for long-tail environmental claims pro rata by years and limits among triggered policies. See EnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, No. 2006-745 (N.H. Oct. 18, 2007). BackgroundEnergyNorth Natural Gas, Inc ...
On 18 October 2007, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular which allows delegation of investment management functions by managers of authorised funds to affiliates not based in an Acceptable Inspection Regime (AIR), subject to certain requirements being met. Previously the fund management company of an SFC authorised fund, and all of its delegates with investment discretion, had to be based in Hong Kong or an AIR ...
This newsletter intends to provide our colleagues and friends with a rapid overview of the reforms that recently occurred in Portugal within commercial and corporate law, in respect of the debureaucratization of the treatment of commercial companies. I. ReformsThus, a substantial range of amendments has been implemented in the last years, with the purpose of simplifying the commercial companies’ incorporation, registration, merger, division, etc. procedures ...
In this long running case, the Court of Appeal has granted Dwr Cymru (on 26 July) leave to appeal the Competition Appeal Tribunal's (the CAT) finding that Dwr Cymru had abused its dominant position by setting an access charge that resulted in a margin squeeze on Albion Water (Albion). The Court of Appeal is due to hear the case later this year ...
DEALING WITH MINING LEGACY – SOME CANADIAN APPROACHES(1)1. INTRODUCTIONIn this paper we discuss approaches that have been used in Canada to identify and foster private sector, public and aboriginal participation in dealing with mining environmental liabilities and orphan sites(2) ...
IFLR Taiwan M&A SummaryJuly 20, 2007IntroductionAs Taiwan heads into an election year in 2008 and beyond, market observers may look back at the last 12 months as an important watershed period for the modernization of Taiwan’s financial sector. There is abundant and growing interest from foreign investors, particularly private equity investors, and mergers and acquisitions, together with other domestic and cross-border deal-making, are at an all time high ...
The Current Mineral Licensing Regime in Nigeria
The European Commission has published its report outlining its proposed changes to the European energy market.In order to open the continent's gas and electricity markets up to greater competition, the Commission has proposed the separation of energy suppliers and producers, a move which would see the break up of firms such as E.ON and Electricite de France ...
The global biofuels industry needs to be better regulated to ensure it does not harm the environment, the UK's climate change minister has stated.Speaking at a recent conference organised by Britain's Renewable Eneregy Association, Phil Woolas MP cited several studies which have shown that biofuel production has led to deforestation and increased house prices in some areas of the world, most notably across Asia ...
Ofgem announced last week that it is delaying its decision on proposals relating to transmission losses. The gas and electricity market regulator's previous statement that it favours one of several proposals before it on this subject has caused considerable consternation among commentators in Scotland ...
The Environmental Liability Directive aims to establish a common framework of environmental liability across the EU to prevent and remedy certain types of environmental damage. The framework is based on the “polluter pays principle”. The implementation date for member states was 30 April 2007. Ireland has not complied with this transposition date and will not have transposed it as a current estimate until early 2008 ...
HIGH LIGHTS• the Code also applies to in-house counsel;• non-compliance may result in disciplinary sanctions;• failure to comply with the standards established by the Code could constitute civil wrongs or “faults” resulting in contractual liability (towards the employer) and even extracontractual liability (towards third parties with whom the lawyer negotiates on behalf of the organization);• concept of client: difference between the representative of the client or in-house c
On July 11, 2007 the European Court of First Instance (“CFI”) ruled that Schneider Electric SA should be compensated for some of the losses suffered following the European Commission’s unlawful prohibition of its merger with Legrand SA in 2001.[2] The CFI’s decision is undoubtedly historic. It is the first case in which damages have been awarded against the Commission for getting a merger wrong ...
On May 7th, 2007, the British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned the certification of a major pension class proceeding in Ruddell v. BC Rail Ltd., 2007 BCCA 269. In doing so, the court ruled that BC Rail had properly invoked its right to have the dispute determined by arbitration. The court found that, in the circumstances of this case, arbitration took precedence over the class proceeding, which had to be stayed ...
The Federal Court of Canada recently released its decision in Ahousaht First Nation v. Canada (Fisheries and Oceans)(1). The case considered an application by 14 First Nations represented by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (“NTC”) for judicial review of a decision of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans regarding the implementation of a commercial groundfish pilot plan on the British Columbia coast (the “Pilot Plan”) ...
On 6 February 2007, the State Council promulgated the Regulations for the Administration of Commercial Franchising Operations. Although not stated in the Regulations, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) has indicated that the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Franchising Operations, issued on 30 December 2004 (as discussed in the 2005.1 issue of China Legal Update), will be repealed on the Regulations’ effective date, 1 May 2007 ...
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) issued the Measures for the Administration of the Takeover of Listed Companies on 17 May 2006. Effective 1 September 2006, the Measures cover both takeovers and significant share acquisition activities in listed companies. The Measures apply to acquisitions by investors of listed companies. They impose disclosure and tender offer obligations upon investors crossing certain shareholding thresholds ...
A director should seriously consider resigning in the following situations:• in the case of a material contravention of the law or violation of the corporation’s by-laws, its shareholders agreement or the corporation’s undertakings, if the contravention is not rectified promptly;• in the case of bankruptcy or insolvency, if the director is unable to obtain adequate protection from the trustee, the corporation’s creditors or other third parties;• if the corporation or the Boar
Private Actions in Competition Law: Effective Redress for Consumers and BusinessResponse by Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP1. Introduction1.1 Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP welcomes the opportunity to comment on the issues raised by the OFT in its April 2007 Discussion Paper: Private Actions in Competition law: Effective Redress for Consumers and Business (the Discussion Paper). 1 ...
Ten years ago, we would not have been discussing this topic with the Chairman of the then Monopolies and Mergers Commission. Ten years ago, the MMC was a very different animal from today's Competition Commission. Ten years ago, the MMC was largely outside of the daily media spotlight, less transparent and much closer to government ...
Romania¡¦s yearly economic growth has triggered in the past few years an increased interest for investment in the existing domestic companies. Most of the financial investors seek to leverage their acquisitions and expect the possibility to use the target companies¡¦ assets to such purpose. This article will briefly review corporate limits and prevailing interpretation.Prohibition of financial assistanceRomania has implemented the provisions of art ...
